NEW DELHI: An igloo cafe has become this winter’s tourist hotspot in Kashmir’s ski resort town of Gulmarg, offering a unique experience for travelers in the region.
The cafe, named Snowglu, boasts artistic carvings that adorn the interiors of the dome of snow. Guests sit on top of snow chairs covered in lamb skin and have their Shangri-kehwa teas and kebabs served on the snow tables.
The cafe is the first of its kind in India.
“My idea is not to earn money but to bring Gulmarg to the tourist map of the world,” Snowglu owner and creator Syed Wasim Shah told Arab News.
“And to show that India is not less than other developed countries in building snow sculptures,” he added.
With almost 300 daily visitors, the cafe has captured international attention and enjoyed extensive media coverage since it first opened in early February.
Shah, who runs the Kolahoi Green Hotels and Resorts in Gulmarg and is a snow sculptor, first created the igloo cafe as a pilot project in 2021. He took inspiration from an igloo hotel he had visited in Switzerland.
Visitors make their way to the igloo cafe Snowglu in February 2022. The cafe claims to be the world’s largest. (Photo courtesy of Wasim Shah)
Last year, a prototype cafe he built attracted at least 150 people daily, encouraging the 42-year-old to create an even bigger attraction.
This year, after more than two months, around two dozen workers, and about $16,000, Snowglu stands at 11.5 meters and has a diameter of 13 meters.
The cafe, which can seat up to 40 people across 10 tables, is now the world’s largest, Shah said.
An igloo cafe in Switzerland, which is 10 meters tall and has a diameter of 13 meters, is the current world-record holder, according to the Guinness World Records.
“I have already written to the Guinness World Records and hopefully their team would come here and certify it as the world’s largest igloo cafe,” Shah said.
“We want to bring new experiences to Gulmarg and we want to show that people from India do not need to go to Switzerland to see the igloo, we can also do it here,” he added.
Owner and creator Syed Wasim Shah stands beside a snow-ice sculpture in his igloo cafe in Gulmarg, Kashmir. (Photo courtesy of Wasim Shah)
With winter’s end coming soon, there’s only a few weeks left to experience Snowglu, where guests can book to enjoy wazwan, a multi-course meal in Kashmiri cuisine comprising mainly meat-based dishes. Visitors are also expected to pay an entrance fee of $2.60, a charge aimed at discouraging random visitors from entering the structure to prevent it from melting.
The igloo, which will be dismantled on March 15, might only be a starting point for bigger snow projects, as Shah plans on creating an igloo hotel where people can spend the night.
Happy customers have been relishing the snow cafe experience.
Akshya Jain, a tourist from Gujarat state, said the igloo cafe “added value” to her trip to Kashmir.
“I was not aware of such a concept,” Tilotma Bhandarkar, a tourist from the western Indian state of Maharashtra, told Arab News.
“I feel really nice that I came to Gulmarg and had such an experience,” Bhandarkar said.